Tire-heater.



No. 811,026. PATENTED JAN. 30, 1906.

J. B. BANGROFT.

TIRE HEATER.

APPLIOATION FILED APB.6.1905.

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JAMES E. BANOROFT, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES M. MILROY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

TIRE-HEATER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 30, 1906.

Application filed April 6,1905. Serial No. 254,108.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, Loans E. BANCROFT, of Toledo, county ofLucas, and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tire-Heaters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to a tire-heater, and has for its object to provide a device of the kind that is adapted by the use of liquid or gaseous fuel to economically and rapidly heat tires of variable diameters, and, furthermore, to so arrange the construction of the heater as to make it conveniently portable.

The objects of my invention are accomplished as hereinafter described, and illus trated in the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of a tire-heater constructed in accordance with my invention, showing a number of the burner-bodies resting upon the bottom of the vat, showing also several of the burners in position to project 1 jets of inflamed gases against a tire and one of the burner-bodies left out for clearness of illustration. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line XX of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a detail showing the swivel-coupling of each burner to the fuel-supply manifold and a means for normally urging the burner against the bottom of the vat.

The tire-heater comprises a vat A of a suitable depth and diameter and having supporting-legs 1 arranged at intervals along the bot tom 2. Within the angle formed by the junction of the side wall 3 to the bottom of the vat there is located a manifold 4, adapted to supply fuel to burners 5 by means of conduits 6, branched oil from the manifold and connected to each burner radially to the bottom of the vat. Each branch duct 6 is also provided with a swivel-joint O, permitting thereby each burner being raised from its resting position near the center of the vat to an operative position toward the rim of the vat, in which jets of flame are projectable from each burner to conjointly form, with the jets from other burners, a heating zone for a tire. The diameter of the heating zone to fit the size of a tire is adjusted by moving each burner in the vertical are permitted by the swivel-joint O. The side wall 3 of the vat, suitably flared from the bottom of the vat, forms a windshield for the burners when they are elevated to an operative position and further serves to protect the operator from the heat. The tires are supported upon a bridge formed by the cross-bars 8, which are end-connected to each other and to the side wall 3 of the vat at a height permitting the burner to swing freely under the bars.

In order to maintain each burner in the desired position raised from its position of rest at the bottom of the vat, there is suitably coupled to each burner a chain 9, the free end of which is passed through an orifice 10 in the side wall in line with the movement of each burner-body. These orifices are formed to a size permitting the chain to be freely passed through the side wall in one position and to engage the successive links by extending the orifice as a slot 11 in a suitable direction to receive a link of the chain.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 to 2, inclusive, the heater is adapted for the use of hydrocarbon, which is supplied to the manifold from a reservoir 12 under pressure by a pipe 13, controlled by a valve 14-, serving to connect the manifold to the reservoir. A pipe 15, controlled by a valve 16, supplies hydrocarbon to a starting-pan 17, which is arranged as a circular trough in the bottom of the vat and is of a diameter to locate the area of the trough under the needle-valves 18 when the burners are folded upon the bottom 2, the body of each burner being suitably arranged for the use of hydrocarbon.

To start a heater thus constructed, the starting-pan is filled and with all burners folded upon the bottom of the vat the contents of the starting-pan are set afire to generate within the burner-bodies the gases for heating the tire. As the increasing heat of the burner bodies permits a continued production of gas, the burners are raised by means of their chains to the desired position to heat a tire. To avoid radiations through the bottom of the vat, the same is preferably covered to some depth with sand sheathing 19.

In a heater using gaseous fuel the startingpan and the reservoir are omitted and the inlet-pipe 13 is suitably connected to a gas main. (Not shown.)

Each branch duct is provided with a valve 20, permitting individual regulation of each burner, and to insure a positive movement of the burner inward from the wall of the vat, the moving arm 21 of each branch duct is actuated in that direction by a spring.

Av swivel-coupling C is illustrated in Fig. 8, in which the branch 6 comprises a riser 23, to the end of which an elbow 24 is coupled. The lateral outlet of this elbow is provided with a chamber 25, adapted to receive packing material 27, rove around a gland portion 28, rotatively socketed in the bore of the elbow and coupled thereto by a sleeve 29, threaded to the elbow-outlet. A lock-bolt 30 prevents unthreading of the sleeve. The outer end of the gland 28 is elbow-coupled to the burner-conduct, and as a means for urging the burners toward the bottom 2 there is attached to each sleeve one end of a spring 81, suitably coiled around the free end of each gland and having its opposite end arranged as a spring-arm 32, adapted to eXert a downward pressure on each burner-duct.

The number of burners may be suitably varied, and for conveniently folding them upon the bottom 1 they are preferably arranged in series, each series having burners of a size permitting folding on the bottom without lapping on adjacent burners.

What I claim is- 1. In a tire-heater, a tire-bridge provided with a supporting wind-shield, a fuel-supply manifold, branch outlets swivel-jointed and spring-pressed radially inward from the manifold, each outlet having a burner-head and means to raise each head toward the shield.

2. In a tire-heater, a vat-like inclosure having a tire-bridge and a circular trough-like starting-pan, a fuelsupply manifold having branch outlets provided with bu rner-heads and jointed to permit clipping of the heads toward the starting-pan.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I hereto affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES E. BANCROFT.

WVitnesses:

/VM. K. TERRY, MAYME EHRET. 

